


until death do us part

by chenkitays



Category: The Poppy War - R. F. Kuang
Genre: Canon Compliant, Character Study, I'm so sorry for this, Other, Pain, Platonic Soulmates, Siblings, Soulmates, Spoilers for Book 2: The Dragon Republic, and chaghan and qara’s bond is criminally underrated, i'M SAD, idk why I wrote this tbh I was just sad, so much pain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 17:34:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29904636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chenkitays/pseuds/chenkitays
Summary: MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE DRAGON REPUBLICFive times Qara thought Chaghan was going to die, and the one time Chaghan saw Qara die
Relationships: Chaghan Suren & Qara Suren, Chaghan Suren/Altan Trengsin
Comments: 6
Kudos: 5





	until death do us part

Qara is seven, and she watches as the two boys roll around in the pit. She strokes her falcon with trembling fingers. “Come on, Chaghan,” she whispers. Her brother never knows when to shut his fat mouth and now he’s paying for it.   
  
As if he can hear her, Chaghan’s fist flies at the other boy’s face, and the kid staggers back. But the blow only serves to enrage him more. The two boys continue wrestling in the clumsy way that children do. 

A gasp escapes Qara’s lips as the other boy grabs a rock and smashes it against Chaghan’s temple. Her brother crumples, blood running through his white hair.    
  
Qara screams for her mother as she runs towards him, shoving the other boy away. The child is blinking, as though he can’t quite register what he’s done. He starts to cry. But Qara sheds no tears as she rocks her brother against her chest, pressing her fingers against his scarlet-stained hair, trying to stop the blood flow. 

“It’s only a head wound, Qara,” her mother tells her later. “They always look worse than they actually are.” All extravagant performance then, like Chaghan himself. A show of force concealing a little boy.   
  
But Qara holds his hand tightly as he sleeps.  _ He’s going to get himself killed one day _ , she thinks. She only breathes properly again when he opens his eyes.

  
  


~~~~~~~~~~

Qara is ten, and she’s sitting with Chaghan in the back of the hut. Some rival clan is attacking the Naimads. A petty dispute, over a girl who ran away from her village to be with a Naimad boy. At least, that’s what Qara’s birds tell her. They’ve been wrong before. 

Something pierces through the wall next to her and she scrambles back in shock. A rough hand grabs her. 

“I’ve found the chieftain’s kid!” A male voice yells gleefully. Qara kicks and scratches, but she’s too small.  _ You need to start lifting weights _ , the other kids would tease her.  _ Qara looks like a bird. Qara and Chaghan, the ghost twins.  _ The man gets a solid grip on her hair and starts to drag her out of the hut.”    
  
“No!” Suddenly Chaghan is there, pulling and wrenching on the man’s fingers like he’s trying to snap them off. Sharp pain glances through her head as strands of her hair are ripped out. 

“What’s this?” chuckles the man. Chaghan glares at him with such pure hatred that it makes Qara shiver. His white eyes are glowing, he radiates power. 

“Don’t touch my sister, you son of a bitch.” 

_ Shut up _ , Qara wants to tell him. Chaghan always talks too much, gives away too much. He’s reckless and stupid and brave. She loves him. She wants to hit him. 

“ _ Sister _ ?” the man echoes, releasing his grip on Qara. She slips away from him like a wraith and Chaghan grabs her hand, pulling her to his side. “Well isn’t this my lucky day.”    
  
Chaghan pushes Qara behind him, lifting up his hands. He looks so frail.  _ This is it _ , she thinks.  _ This is where he dies.  _

Her mother bursts into the hut and engages the strange man. Qara breathes a sigh of relief and pulls Chaghan away from the fight, away from the danger. She hopes she’ll always be able to do that. 

  
  


~~~~~~~~~~

  
  


Qara is thirteen, and she’s practicing her archery in the forest. One, two, three, the arrows find their mark. A branch cracks behind her and she wheels around, another arrow already nocked. She likes the other members of the Cike, but it’s in her nature to be suspicious.

Chaghan holds his hands up. “Only me, little sister.”    
  
“Don’t call me that,” she scoffs. Chaghan just smiles, and she can’t help but smile in return. The early morning light is filtering through his hair and he looks like a ghostly prince. 

“I cast a hexagram last night,” he says casually. Qara frowns. He’s always taken her with him when he visits the goddess. She wonders why he didn’t this time.

“And?” 

“Death.”    
  
The word chills her. She clears her throat and walks across the clearing, pulling her arrows out of the trees. “Soon?”    
  
“No. It was kind of vague as to when.” Chaghan looks so unbothered, so aloof. Qara bites her lip. “Well, everyone dies eventually. Come on,” he holds out his hand, “the empress is waiting.”    
  
She takes it and follows him back to the barracks. 

Su Daji is lounging on a makeshift throne in the meeting room. She looks the twins up and down. The tall, bright, pale boy and the small, muted, dark girl. 

She talks a lot. Qara listens, and Chaghan interrupts. He always thinks they know best, and he speaks for both of them. Everything he says is what she thinks, and yet she wishes he wouldn’t say it sometimes. When Daji’s eyes flare yellow, Qara stiffens. The beautiful woman prowls over to Chaghan and tilts his chin up to face her. 

“You’re a strong one, aren’t you?” she murmurs. Chaghan sets his jaw. 

“ _ We’re  _ strong.” 

The Empress looks at Qara, as if she’s just noticed the girl. “I see,” she murmurs. “Let’s hope you two don’t get too strong.”    
  
“Or what?” says Chaghan lazily. Qara grips his hand tight, watches as he takes the tiniest step to the side so that he’s between her and the Empress.  _ This is it. He’s going to die. He interpreted his stupid hexagram wrong _ . 

But the Empress only smiles. “We’ll see.” 

  
  


~~~~~~~~~~

  
  


Qara is eighteen and she watches Altan Trengsin approach the ranks of the Cike. She doesn’t miss the way Chaghan’s breath catches at the sight of the newcomer. Altan looks like a hero out of a fairytale, with his smooth dark skin and handsome features. He stops in front of the twins with the easy grace of someone who knows he’s special. “Hello,” he says, his voice deep and pleasant, “I’m Altan.”    
  
Qara doesn’t miss how her brother’s eyes always track the Speerly over the next year. She doesn’t miss the reverent fear in his face every time Chaghan and Altan get close. She says nothing, but Chaghan knows how she feels about the relationship. He promises her she has nothing to worry about. They both know he’s lying. 

When Tyr dies, Chaghan is ready to assume the position of commander. He doesn’t accept it when Altan is the one instated. He challenges Altan, mocks him, hides his growing fear under smugness. Qara cautions him against it. Standing in Altan Trengsin’s path is like facing down a volcano. 

And like all volcanoes, he erupts. Chaghan goes too far with a jibe about Altan’s dead family and Altan grabs him, throws him onto a horse and canters off. 

Qara spends their absence in complete disarray. Not even Ramsa’s stupid jokes can cheer her up. She bites her nails, releases her arrows at the trees in anger. Her birds are unable to find them and she is completely blind for the first time in her life. She looks for him in the spirit world but the Phoenix is stronger than her god. Qara’s dreams are plagued with visions of her brother’s thin, bony frame lying broken at the bottom of a valley. 

When they come back three days later, early in the morning, Qara flies into Chaghan’s arms the second he’s off that horse. Alive. He’s alive. He holds her tight. Fear of death aside, neither of them can bear being apart for too long. Each time they reunite it’s like they’re two puzzle pieces, finally clicked back into place. When she pulls back, something’s changed in his face. “What is it?” she whispers. 

“Nothing,” he says. The fire in his white eyes has dimmed. “We’re lieutenants now.”    
  
Later, sitting with him in their room, Qara understands. If she’s the moon and Chaghan is the sun, Altan is the dark, empty void of space. 

  
  


~~~~~~~~~~

  
  


Qara is twenty and she drags herself out of Lake Boyang, coughing and sputtering. There is no water in her throat, yet she still feels as though she’s drowning. Disoriented as she is, it takes a moment for her to realize that the water must be in Chaghan’s lungs. 

She scrambles to her feet and looks around wildly. Chest heaving, it takes her a moment to see Rin’s friend Kitay pulling her twin out of the lake. Qara stumbles towards them, her usual sure-footedness deserting her. Kitay is already turning Chaghan onto his back and blowing air into his mouth. He starts to apply compressions on his chest. Qara kneels down next to them and tilts Chaghan’s chin back to better clear his airways. For a long minute, nothing happens. Then two. Qara rationally knows he’s not dead, because she’s alive, but in that moment logic deserts her. 

“ _ Chaghan _ ,” she rasps, every breath an effort. “ _ Wake up. _ ” He doesn’t answer. “Chaghan!”    
  
Kitay is still performing his compressions, but his face is sad. “Qara, I don’t think - ”

“Shut up,” she says. “Chaghan!”    
  
And miraculously, his eyes flutter open and he starts to cough. 

Relief floods her and she turns him onto his side, helping the water leave his lungs. His breaths are ragged and heaving, but he’s alive. Wondrously alive. He sits up and she nearly starts crying. 

“Qara,” he says, and his voice is uncharacteristically gentle. “I’m fine.” 

“But the hexagram - ”

“ - was cryptic. You’re not getting rid of me that easily.” 

_ But it  _ would _ be easy. You think you’re invincible, but you’re easy to kill. You’re just a boy, Chaghan. _

  
  


~~~~~~~~~~

  
  


Chaghan never thought Qara would be the one to die first. 

They’re like a bicycle. He’s the front wheel, taking the brunt of everything and enforcing their will. She’s the back wheel, stabilizing them. He acts in the mortal world, she acts in the spirit world. He controls people and she controls animals. He’s always burned brighter than her, so he always thought he’d burn out first. 

He doesn’t even register the projectile flying towards him. He doesn’t even register why Qara jumps in front of him. He catches her as she falls, because he always does. He pulls her away from danger, shielding her in his arms, because he always does. Then he notices the pain in his chest. He notices that Qara is unusually limp. 

Chaghan sinks to the ground and turns his sister onto her back with shaking hands. Blood is blossoming on her chest. “Qara,” he gasps, “Qara, no,  _ Qara _ .” He looks for the arrowhead. He doesn’t find it. It’s in her heart. He can feel it in his too. 

Any relief at the realization that they’re going to the afterlife together leaves him when she speaks. She wants him to stay. She wants him to stay here alone, without her. Chaghan wants to refuse. He wants to die with her in his arms, and wake up in the afterlife. She’ll be mad but she’ll forgive him because she always does. 

“ _ Please _ ,” Qara whispers. He presses his forehead against hers, looking into her golden eyes. And he knows he cannot deny her this. 

Her blood feels like acid on his skin when she draws the pattern. He closes his eyes and he’s in the spirit world. Chaghan sees Qara across the circle from him, he sees the bridge of love and trust and hope and sorrow between them. He watches it shatter. 

Chaghan jolts back into his body. The pain in his chest has disappeared, and Qara’s hand rests on his cheek. He leans into her featherlight touch, cradling her against his chest. The light in her eyes is dimming.  _ Don’t go. Don’t leave me.  _ His throat is clogged, he can’t bring himself to speak the words, but Qara knows. Even without the anchor bond. 

Then her hand drops to the ground. He barely notices Rin yelling at Bekter. All he can see is the lifelessness in Qara’s eyes. All he can feel is her small, frail body in his arms. All he can hear is her silence. 

  
  



End file.
